The Surprising Hobby That Boosted Memory in 70‑Somethings

Key takeaways

• In a four‑year follow‑up of older adults who learned an instrument around age 73, those who kept practicing maintained verbal working memory, while those who quit declined.

• Continued practice was linked to less gray‑matter shrinkage in the right putamen and greater activity in cerebellar regions, both important for learning and coordination.

• The results suggest it may truly be “never too late” for music training to support healthy brain aging, especially for people who struggle with traditional exercise.

Working memory—the ability to hold and manipulate information in mind—is one of the mental skills most vulnerable to age‑related change. At the same time, brain imaging studies have shown that learning an instrument strongly engages the putamen and cerebellum, two regions that often shrink and become less active with age.

Most previous research on musical training’s brain benefits has focused on people who started in childhood or early adulthood. Scientists at Kyoto University wanted to know whether starting in the 70s could still make a measurable difference over several years.

Why scientists turned to late‑life music lessons

The new work followed participants from a 2020 study in which older adults, average age 73, learned to play a musical instrument for the first time over four months. In that earlier phase, beginners already showed short‑term gains in memory performance and changes in putamen function.

After that initial training, about half the participants chose to keep practicing their instruments for more than three years, while the others stopped and turned to other hobbies. Four years after the start, everyone was invited back for brain scans and cognitive testing, including a verbal working memory task.

Four years later: whose brain looked different?

At the beginning, the two groups did not differ meaningfully in brain structure or memory performance. Four years later, clear differences had emerged between those who kept making music and those who did not.

Older adults who stopped practicing showed declines in verbal working memory and a loss of gray‑matter volume in the right putamen. In contrast, those who continued playing their instruments did not show the same drop in memory, and their putamen shrank less over time.

The researchers also observed stronger activity across broader areas of both cerebellums in the group that kept practicing compared with those who quit. Corresponding author Kaoru Sekiyama noted that seeing such focused effects in these subcortical regions suggests instrument training may be a particularly efficient way to counter age‑related decline there.

Music as a practical brain‑health tool

Taken together, the findings indicate that taking up and sticking with a musical instrument in later life may help delay or reduce some of the memory and brain‑structure changes that often accompany normal aging. Crucially, the benefits showed up even though participants began in their 70s, supporting the idea that it is “never too late” to start.

The researchers also highlight music as a promising option for people who have trouble doing more intense physical exercise because of pain or mobility issues. For them, regular instrument practice might offer a more accessible way to keep both brain and cognition engaged over the long term.

References:

1. Xueyan Wang, Masatoshi Yamashita, Xia Guo, Lars Stiernman, Marcelo Kakihara, Nobuhito Abe, Kaoru Sekiyama. Never too late to start musical instrument training: Effects on working memory and subcortical preservation in healthy older adults across 4 years. Imaging Neuroscience, 2025; 3 DOI: 10.1162/IMAG.a.48